Fated to Die
by ryl00
Summary: Warrior Within from Kaileena's point-of-view.
1. Chapter 1

When the Gods cleared the sands and created the world, they placed daevas throughout the lands to aid in its creation. Their work done, the daevas returned from whence they came, and the Gods barred their return, as the world was now ready for Man.

It was only after the doorway was sealed, that the Gods realized that one had not returned. They saw her, on a small island, confused and alone, lost and crying to hear their voices again.

The doorway was barred; the only way to reopen it would be to destroy their beautiful creation, and they could not do that, not even for that lonely, lost soul.

They pitied her, that she had been left behind. And they feared her, for what might she do to the world of Man, what terrors might she accidentally unleash as the anguish of being away from her brothers and sisters, of not hearing the celestial voices of her kind, slowly drove her insane?

So they did what little they could, from so far away. Out of pity, she was granted the gift of forgetfulness, so that the memories of her earlier life would no longer torment her so. And out of fear, she was granted the gift of death, so that such a powerful creature as her could not terrorize the world of Man for eternity, either accidentally or deliberately.

Once it was done, the Gods mourned her, for she had been a favorite. Her brothers and sisters cried tears for her, for she had been well-beloved.

They would never forget, even though she already had.

* * *

Kaileena was awake, sitting up in bed, her head resting on her drawn-up knees, staring into the darkness, when it happened. She didn't need an hourglass, or sight of the stars, or a mechanical clock, to know when the last grain of sand had fallen from the day, to give way to the next day. Her last day.

No portentious clap of thunder, though it was dreary outside… had been for well over a week now, gray clouds and drizzle locking the island in stubborn mist. No terrible earthquake, no rain of fire from the heavens. No sign that this was to be her last, sleepless night.

Not that the previous night had provided her any rest. It had been weeks… maybe even months, since she'd remembered drifting off. She may have adapted some of the affectations, some of the habits and conventions of this world of Man, through the long centuries, but most were nothing but mere facades, an instinctive aping of behaviors almost exclusively witnessed secondhand, as she peered through the lens of the Timeline into their faraway worlds. Sleep was one such behavior that, useful though it was, had lately been harder and harder to come by.

She didn't even know why she had bothered, but the ritual of preparing for sleep as the sun's rays departed had been one that had grown on her over time, and provided at least the appearance of normalcy, thin though it was.

Restless, she rose, changed, and proceeded to her throne room.

It was a long, lonely walk through the vast hallways and empty, echoing rooms. This section of the fortress, her private quarters and the throne room, were relatively free of her denizens, as she found it more comforting to have them in the outer areas, between her and the walls. And him, of course.

Save one, as she discovered when she slipped quietly through the giant doorway into the vast throne room.

Shahdee was lying casually on the giant stone throne, resting her back on one arm while her legs were draped over the other. Asleep.

Kaileena's restless anxiety gave way to another feeling that had become more and more familiar to her lately… rage.

She snapped her fingers, and suddenly Shahdee yelped as the stones of the throne grew uncomfortably hot. She leapt out of the throne, cursing a blue streak which would have made a sailor proud, then belatedly spotted Kaileena.

"Empress," she said apologetically, "I did not expect you to be up at a time like this."

_Trying on your new throne already, my dear?_ Kaileena thought acidly to herself. The naked ambition that had driven this once-human woman to seek out the Empress and trade her humanity for power had grown all too obvious as the Empress' destiny had drawn closer.

Much though she wished she could rid herself of such a disrespectful, disobedient servant, Kaileena needed her services more desperately than she would admit. More of the original Shahdee had been preserved during the conversion than usually happened, so instead of becoming a dull, unimaginative, and completely subservient creature like the others, Shahdee had gained all the special powers normally infused in the Empress' creatures, while at the same time retaining her intellect, drive, and self-serving ambition. _A dangerous weapon which could just as easily cut oneself as one's enemies, _she thought_, but without risk there was no reward._

She deigned not to comment on Shahdee's deplorable lack of respect, as she made the long walk from the doorway to the throne. "Go and keep watch from the tower," she said imperiously when she arrived, lashing a hand out to point out the doorway behind her. "Watch for his approach through the Lens, and alert me if there is any news."

"Yes, Empress," she said, descending from the dais and smartly stepping toward the doorway.

_At least she isn't yet in open rebellion_, Kaileena thought to herself as she watched Shahdee go. _Probably just waiting for the right time to stab me in the back. Or, more likely,_ she thought grimly_, waiting for the right time to betray me to him!_

After Shahdee had passed through the doorway, Kaileena settled on the now-cool throne, and took a moment to look around her. The throne room was vast, but barren, like most of the rooms and hallways in her fortress.

_And like my life,_ she thought bitterly to herself, succumbing to a moment's self-pity.

She looked around at the austere grandeur of the room. The vaulted ceiling above was lost in the gloom of the dark heights that the few lights around her could not reach. Five hundred people could have easily fit inside its vast dimensions. Certainly a throne room fit for the Empress of Time.

And, if the Timeline was to be believed, soon to be the place of her death.

She rose quickly, angrily, shying away from the direction her thoughts had turned. She had already decided, long ago, that she would lock off this room on this day. _Damn the Timeline!_ she thought to herself_. I will not meekly accept this, like some docile animal led to the slaughter! I will fight this tooth and nail!_

_But what's the point?_ she immediately asked herself_. I've seen visions for thousands of years, and they have always been accurate. Always. Why prolong the pain, the suffering?_

Irresolute, she stood there, glaring at the throne for a while, before turning and headed for the doorway. _If the Timeline had truly decided this_, she thought to herself, _then it will happen, no matter what I do. So I shall lock off this room, and see what happens!_

_

* * *

_As the giant mechanical gate slammed solidly shut across the foyer leading into the throne room, Kaileena turned to watch the progress being made on the Hourglass.

She briefly scanned the line of creatures laboriously passing buckets of sand across the floor, up a ladder, and into the giant hourglass that dominated this circular room which led up to the mechanical gate. Once full, the hourglass would count down the time remaining before her preordained death, and then serve as a vessel for the Sands of Time which would flow forth from her body.

Long ago, when this day had seemed so very, very far away, the idea had seemed majestically grand to the Empress, when she had first seen the visions of it in the Timeline. _Let those dead Pharaohs have their stone pyramids by the banks of the Nile_, she had thought to herself. _I shall become Time itself, slowly counting down the very life of the Universe!_

Such had been her naïve, proud thoughts thousands of years ago. But now she just glared at the enormous, exquisite timepiece, determined to see the thing dusty and unused here.

But the thought of her passing the giant, dark timepiece on her way to the throne room would not form in her mind, much though she tried to imagine it. Instead, she saw the soft glow of the Sands of Time shifting inside the hourglass' bulbs, sifting slowly through the Ages of the world.

Her bitter thoughts on the betrayal of her own mind were interrupted by the slow, ponderous sound of a distant bell tolling.

Even though she had been expecting it, in fact knew that it would be coming, she still found her stomach clenching painfully at the sound as it intruded upon her. It was Shahdee, reporting that she had news from the vantage point of the outer tower.

* * *

The central hall was empty. The Empress's shoes echoed quietly in the silence, as she emerged from an adjoining hallway.

She did not see the grand magnificence of the giant hallway, with its sweeping arches and its slender columns. She did not see the rich banners fluttering slightly in the warm drafts. Instead, she saw them in her mind's eye, without herself in them. _How quiet will it be in here, once I am gone?_ she wondered. _Do these floor stones remember my feet now, and will they miss them once they are gone?_

Her heart swelled at the melancholy that chose that moment to burst forth, and she had to close her eyes as the bittersweet emotion flooded her senses like the incoming tide. "Too soon," she murmurred to herself. Time was slipping away from her, Empress though she was of it; she could palpably feel the seconds disappearing from her grasping fingers.

Footsteps approached, breaking her from indulging in her self-pity further. She looked up to see Shahdee approaching from the other end of the hallway.

"His ship approaches," she said simply. "It is just as the Timeline foretold. I am sorry, Empress."

Though she already knew what Shahdee was going to say, it still felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on her face; her heart had skipped a beat. _He is coming._ "You have done as I said?" Kaileena demanded, clenching herself to fight off the rising terror clawing within.

"The crew is assembled and the ship is ready."

"Then go now. I have activated the island's portals." At great cost; she was still drained from the magics she had performed after hearing the bell ringing. "You will travel to his time, engage him at sea, and kill him! Kill them all!" Her self-control had broken down as she had thought of him, and her eyes flashed in a feverish frenzy.

Shahdee bowed with a flourish. "As you wish."

Kaileena stiffened. "I do not appreciate your tone!" she snapped angrily.

The amusement fled Shahdee's coal black eyes, to be replaced by anger. "You know you cannot change the Timeline!" she hissed. "You cannot escape your fate! Yet you send me on this doomed mission!"

Kaileena's mind seethed in white-hot rage at Shahdee's words. She wanted to hurl the insolent woman from the broad walkway and into the bottomless pits to either side, and hear her scream all the way down! Were it not for the fact that she had just expended most of her energy opening the portals, she just might have done it, no matter how badly she needed Shahdee's help. But as it was, the Empress managed to contain her fury, bottled into a tiny, hard knot within. "If you fail and he reaches the island," the Empress coldly warned instead, "you will find death… at my hands! Now go!" she spat.

Shahdee's eyes glared death at Kaileena, but the Empress did not flinch. She would die before she showed weakness before anyone!

Shahdee backed down from the confrontation, turning swiftly and departing the way she had come. Clutching herself at a sudden, chilly draft coming from the pits below, Kaileena stared daggers into her servant's back the entire way.


	2. Chapter 2

Restlessly, Kaileena paced along the edges of the altar floor. She was edgy and nervous; the Timeline was like the raging sea during a storm, and she could not see clearly through the wrath and tumult. _The storm approaches_, she thought to herself grimly, _and I will not survive it_.

She stopped near the edge of the altar floor, and looked down into the terrifying depths below. Not for the first time, she wondered if it wouldn't be better just to end all the torture now, and toss herself over the edge here and now. A futile act of defiance, to rob the Timeline of the fate it had preordained for her. Or would some "miracle" arrive to stop her from defying the Timeline, to preserve her for the role she was to play later?

But even as she thought this, she knew the Timeline needed no such miracle. The swelling dread in her stomach, the quickening of her heart, was sign enough that suicide was not an option for her; it had never been. She backed away cautiously from the precipitous edge, then turned as she heard footsteps approaching. _Shahdee!_

She burst into the room at a full run, then half-jogged up the steps to the Empress. The normally cool Shahdee looked flustered; her hair was in disarray, her normally razor sharp swords were dull in the bright lights of the room, and there were bruises and scuff marks all along her body and clothes.

"Well?" asked Kaileena. _Why do I even bother asking?_ she asked herself pessimistically. _I already know the news will always be bad!_

Shahdee was hunched over, hands on her knees, catching her breath. "I tried my best, Empress," she gasped at last. "He was too strong a fighter."

"He reached the island?"

"Worse… he followed me through a portal. He is here, now. In our time."

Time seemed to stop. Kaileena's mind froze solid at the words. _It's over!_ she screamed within in babbling despair. _He's here!_

The Empress crushed the panic bubbling inside her with an iron fist, then in a fury leveled Shahdee with a stinging crack of her hand, sending the woman flying through the air to sprawl onto the altar floor.

"How dare you stand before me and admit failure!" Kaileena screamed, shaking with fear and rage. "You should have died to protect me!"

Shahdee spat, deadly, murderous intent in her coal-black eyes. "I'll not give my life for this foolishness!" she hissed, easily leaping back to her feet, then launching herself at the Empress, her swords two arcs of light flashing in the dark.

Kaileena had gone too far. Her panic had spurred her into bringing this conflict to a boil at the worst possible moment. Barely, the Empress was able to block Shahdee's would-be fatal blow, gripping Shahdee's wrists to keep her blades away. "How… how dare you!" she sputtered in indignation, struggling for leverage.

"I dare…" Shahdee responded, grunting, "because your time is finally over!"

Kaileena cursed herself for her weakened state, drained by the magics she had performed earlier to open the portals, and ensorcel the Hourglass. She cursed herself for not being armed. Otherwise, she could have easily handled Shahdee.

But, she suddenly realized with shock, she was losing! Shahdee's eyes gleamed as the Empress was forced to give ground, trying to find more leverage.

"You don't know how long I've waited for this moment, my Empress," Shahdee hissed, her smile a thin, tight-lipped slash. "How many insults and dismissals I have swallowed, biding my time, waiting for the inevitable!"

"Treacherous creature!" Kaileena panted, her hands rigid with the strain of keeping Shahdee back. "I created you… made you what you are today… and this is how you pay me back?"

"Oh, this pay back is long overdue… trust me!"

"You… cannot kill me!" the Empress replied, trying to hide the strain from her voice. "The Timeline forbids it!"

"The same Timeline you yourself fight to change?" Shahdee snorted. "The Timeline has sentenced you to death; the manner of it does not matter!"

Kaileena didn't reply; better to save her strength to fend off those blades. But then what? What if Shahdee was right?

She sensed movement across the room… one of her creatures was nearby! Relief flooded her weary arms… the thing would at least give Kaileena a chance to recover by distracting the murderous Shahdee. "You!" she said through clenched teeth. "Help me!" She spared a glance from Shahdee's face to look at the newcomer… then started in shock.

That was no sand creature! That was the Prince!

Shahdee took advantage of Kaileena's distraction to suddenly shift backwards. Surprised, the Empress stumbled forward as the resistance unexpectedly disappeared. Shahdee's move backward flowed into a brutal spin, and before she knew it, Kaileena was sliding along on the smooth floor.

Tumbling, she saw the edge approaching rapidly, and desperately struggled for purchase on the floor. But she found none, and suddenly, dreadfully, was aware of nothingness beneath her. One last, desperate reach with her hand found a small imperfection in the lip of the edge, and her now-anchored arm screamed in pain as it absorbed the force of stopping her from plummeting into the darkness below.

As her wild eyes looked at the dark emptiness below her, one small part of her could not help but think about the irony, were she to plummet to her death now, after considering leaping off of her own accord mere moments earlier.

A shadow fell above her, and she looked up to see Shahdee standing above her. Kaileena swallowed, seeing Shahdee's sharp boot poised over her clenched hand. She wondered if she would feel it when she smashed into the distant ground, shrouded in darkness far, far below, and whether the light of the sun would ever touch her again.

"Leave her alone!" called out the Prince. "You and I have unfinished business!"

Pausing, Shahdee turned to look at him, then suddenly disappeared from Kaileena's sight. The Empress sighed silently to herself, as she heard metal crash on metal.

As the Prince and Shahdee struggled, Kaileena gingerly attempted to pull herself up. With her two deadliest foes struggling against each other, now was the ideal time to escape. But it was hopeless; the only thing she managed to do was get both her hands to grip the edge, which at least provided some measure of safety. But how long would that last, before her body failed her and her grip loosened?

The sounds of combat drifted down from above, and all she could do was hang there, suspended in time and air, as each second seemed to grind past the next. She started once, as she saw the Prince go flying by above her, to land painfully against one of the outflung claws which encircled the dais like fingers encircling a palm. But he quickly recovered and leapt back out of sight, steel determination gleaming from his eyes.

And then suddenly she heard the unmistakable sound of cold metal cleave through all-too-pliant flesh, and Shahdee's agonizing cry of death.

So now she was all alone. Truly alone, for Shahdee, despite her treachery at the end, had been the closest thing she had had to a friend.

A shadow fell over her, reminding her that she wasn't alone. She looked up to see the Prince looking down upon her, and she wondered how it could be that her heart did not fail her then and there, to see her death staring at her so closely.

But he did not recognize her… she could see that, now, in the concerned tone of his eyes. He thought her just a young woman, perhaps a servant of the Empress. And suddenly hope, fickle and fleeting, savior and betrayer, had returned to Kaileena.

He knelt down and grabbed her wrists. Using his strong arms for support, Kaileena climbed up over the ledge and onto the safety of the floor. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Shahdee, lying prone on the dais floor. Unbidden, the image of herself lying lifeless on the floor instead of Shahdee touched the Empress' mind, and she blinked at the chill darkness of her own mind. Or was that the Timeline, allowing her a clear view through the storm of her future?

Quickly, unsteadily getting to her feet, she turned to go, afraid that the newfound hope stirring in her might flee at the slightest chance, the lightest breath. She had to escape from the Prince… she wasn't ready to face him, to face her fate, now!

"Wait!" he called out from behind her. "Please, I must speak with you!"

Despite herself, she stopped and turned to look at him, slowly rising to his feet at the dais' edge. "What do you want from me?" she asked.

"I seek an audience with the Empress."

She managed to give voice to an amused chuckle, though inside she felt relief at the Prince's lack of knowledge. "The Empress meets with no one. Who do you think you are?"

"I am the Prince of Persia," he stated simply. No pride or arrogance about him, no flippant nonchalance. He was a determined man, who had journeyed across the sea of Time and battled through the Empress' denizens and traps single-handedly, and was not about to let a few words deter him.

"I see," she replied, trying to sound indifferent. "Today is a very important day… she cannot be disturbed," she said curtly, turning again to leave.

"I don't think you understand how important this is!" he responded, hurrying to catch up with her as she approached the steps leading down off the dais.

Just as he reached her side, they both heard a ghastly creaking. Turning, the two saw torn and broken Shahdee rise onto her elbows to glare at them. The Prince instinctively backed up into Kaileena, shielding her, and the Empress instinctively grabbed his arm at the shock.

"Fool," hissed Shahdee, her voice fading but still strong enough to carry. "Don't you know… you cannot… change your fate."

And then she fell back to the floor, and her body was suddenly consumed by the magical sands that had been bound inside her body for centuries. There was a glowing explosion of sand and light, and then there was nothing.

"'You cannot change your fate,'" murmured the Prince. "Was she speaking to me? How could she know my mission?"

But Kaileena was only half-aware of the Prince, despite his nearness. Shahdee had been staring straight at her, her dark eyes glowing with the mystical certainty of the dying. It was all she could to keep herself under control, force her breathing to stay steady, keep her hands from shaking.

They were interrupted by a terrible, slow cracking sound coming from above. They looked up, to see a giant block of stone descend with terrible, crushing slowness from the shadowy heights of the ceiling to crash with an enormous collision into the dais. As the dust thrown up from the fall blew over them, more ominous creaking and cracking emanated from above. The magical energy released by Shahdee's death was shaking the castle like an earthquake.

Acting as one, not needing to speak with or glance at each other to know what had to be done, the two hurried for the steps leading down from the dais and out of the sacrificial altar.

"Watch out!" the Prince yelled out suddenly, grabbing hold of Kaileena's upper arm and stopping her from continuing on down the stairway.

Kaileena followed the Prince's gaze up, to see a giant chunk of the ceiling begin a slow fall onto the narrow stairway.

The pressure on her arm suddenly, painfully increased, and Kaileena gasped as she suddenly found herself flying through the air, flung down the stairway by the Prince.

As she landed with a painful crash on the carpeted floor of the stairway landing, the floor beneath her shook and her ears thundered, as the intervening stairway collapsed under the impact of the ceiling stone.

She just lay there, wondering if the shaking would ever stop, if this landing too would soon descend into the dark night below, never to return. But the shaking slowly faded away, and the floor felt more and more solid below her, and the echoes of the impacts began to recede as if they had never been.

She rose to her feet, and glanced across the yawning chasm where the stairs had once been, to see the Prince looking back at her, trapped on the other end.

Her inescapable doom, the one she had dreamed of for an eternity, the one who had come to murder her… had saved her life now. Twice.

The Prince did not see any of this reflection in Kaileena's green eyes. "Stay there!" he called out, studying the architectural changes which had so violently been introduced to the sacrificial altar. "I will find my way to you!"

"No, Prince!" Kaileena called back from her side of the yawning chasm. Her green eyes met the determined Prince's eyes. "Leave this place and never return," she said. _Please!_ she added to herself. _Please, let this fate that I have foreseen not come to pass. He saved my life; please, let this all have been some ghastly mistake!_ "The Empress has no love for the world of men. She will kill you if she learns of your presence here."

* * *

She left, and as soon as she had turned the corner and gotten out of sight of the Prince, she leaned against a wall and started trembling. _I was so helpless; if he had only known_, she thought, _I would not be standing here right now. Likely, I would still be falling…_

She waited for herself to calm down, then tiptoed back to spy on the Prince.

She peeked around the corner, and gasped as she saw him leap fearlessly across the depths she had nearly succumbed to, to land on the thinnest of ledges against a distant wall. _What fate pursues you, my Prince?_ she wondered, remembering his reaction to Shahdee's last words, as he crawled up a column and out of sight above her. _Is that what has driven you here? Do you have demons of your own, hounding you?_

_Will you leave, as I asked?_ she wondered. But even as she thought the question, she knew with a depressing certainty, deep in her heart, that he would not. _Whatever is in the Timeline will come to pass, whether I will it or not._


	3. Chapter 3

She heard footsteps, and sighed to herself. As she had feared, he had not taken her warning to heart. Other possibilities, other doors, closed shut, and as always, only one path remained to be walked.

She turned to see the Prince standing at the entrance to the hourglass chamber, looking around in amazement at the grandeur of the room.

She had been at the top of a ladder that was leaning against the giant hourglass, inspecting the glass surface for any imperfections. "This is a dangerous place," she called out to him, as she descended. "You should not have come back." _Stubborn fool!_

"I don't have the luxury," he growled back, as she reached the floor. "I must see the Empress!"

Kaileena sniffed. "Impossible!"

He walked up to her. "My mission… it's very urgent! I must see her."

"You don't understand," she replied. She gestured at the top half of the magnificent hourglass. "When the last grain falls from this hourglass, the Empress will create the Sands of Time. No business of yours could be more important than that."

"I have come to stop the Empress from creating the Sands!" he said urgently.

_How ironic_, she thought to herself. _So you think to stop the creation of the Sands by killing me… but that will only further the cause you seek to defeat. Fool!_

But this presented a way out for her… all she had to do was tell him that the Empress' death would cause the Sands to be created…

No, it was too late for that, she could see it in the grim, hard determination in his eyes. He already knew that the Empress' agents had tried to kill him… he would never believe that he could end this any other way except with her death. Why bother even trying? Both their paths had already been set… the Timeline would not be deined.

"Then your's is a fool's errand," she replied instead. "The creation of the Sands was foretold in the Timeline. It cannot be stopped."

"I just saved your life. Twice. All I'm asking for is some information. Tell me where the Sands will be created."

Something was very… persuasive about him. He seemed so earnest, so determined. Looking into his eyes, she could see the fires of his life burning brightly. _What was it like to be as such, to know what you wanted, to fight against the world, if need be, to succeed?_

Despite herself, she found herself replying. "In there," she said, gesturing toward the locked throne room, "but the room has been sealed. You cannot enter."

"There must be a way."

His single-minded determination was amazing to watch. And terrifying, she had to remind herself… for her death lay at the end of his road. "Hah," she responded, prodding him to see how strong his will was. "You'd have to undo the very fortifications of this castle. An impossible task."

"When a man is faced with his own death, he finds the impossible less of a barrier," he replied grimly. "Tell me how."

_Faced with his own death? Very intriguing._ She'd have to find out more… assuming he survived, of course. For at his predictable question, a devious idea had entered Kaileena's mind. Why not use his strength against him? Send him against the impossible task of opening the doors, and let that task kill him for her.

"Very well," she responded, schooling her face into a blank expression.

She went into great depth about the castle's fortifications, and the tasks he would have to perform to open the door to the throne room. While he stood there, attentively gathering the details, she studied him closely. He was not in the least bit perturbed by the information she'd revealed, or the impossible tasks ahead of him.

Watching him calmly absorb all this information, her heart fell. The Timeline had chosen a most appropriate device… the man was so confident, so assured… so unstoppable! She could have told him to walk along the bottom of the sea from here to India, and he wouldn't have blinked an eye.

Dejected now, she finished, "It won't make a difference, though."

"What do you mean?"

Bitterness seeped into her mind, colored her voice. "Succeed or fail… the outcome is the same. You will not stop the Sands from being created."

"Thanks for the… advice," he replied, uncertainly.

* * *

Nervously, she paced the hallway in the central hall, sword in hand. When she'd seen one of the two massive locks on the throne room door come undone, she knew with a sinking heart that he was halfway to success. She was fighting the Timeline, but without success… just as she knew would happen!

So she had come here, where she knew he would have to return, before attempting the second of his tasks… to stop him. To confront him. To kill him!

So preoccupied was she, that she didn't even notice he had arrived until she had nearly strided right into him.

"Oh… it's you!" she gasped. She'd built up her courage to do this, here and now, but she lost her nerve seeing him in person.

"You seem surprised to see me," he responded, a wry smile on his lips.

She recovered her balance quickly. "Surprised only that you insist on prolonging the inevitable," she responded dryly.

"Why did you help me?"

"I…don't know," she replied, uncertainly, confused at the unexpected question. "I guess half because you remind me of the Empress… or who I wish she could be."

"What do you mean?"

"Like you, she knows her own fate. She has seen it in the Timeline. But while you fight it, she has submitted. She accepts it." It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was true. She had walled herself up here in this Castle, waiting for the end that the Timeline had foretold. Oh, she had made efforts, certainly, to fight her fate, but it was all passive, so defensive. If she had been more like him, she would have left her island jail a long time ago, to hunt down and kill this Prince herself, damn what the Timeline may say! But no, she had locked herself up and stewed in agonizing rage, waiting for his arrival.

That long-remembered, impotent anger lighted on her mind. "To some, knowledge is power, but I say it is a poison. Knowing the date and manner of her own death torments her. The closer it draws, the greater her pain." It was a cancer within, consuming more and more of her body and mind.

"And you wish she would fight her fate, like me?"

"Maybe it would give her something to live for." She fed her self-pity, and the misery consoled her.

"You said that was only half the reason. What's the other half?"

"I have known my whole life that what is written in the Timeline cannot be changed. Yet something inside me wants you to succeed."

"And do you think I will?"

"No. But I admire you for trying."

"Thank you… your name? I haven't even asked your name… I've been so…"

"It's… Kaileena. You should go… the hourglass is more than half empty. You haven't much time."

_Neither do I._

_

* * *

_Ever since she had seen the massive door to her throne room open, Kaileena had known the Prince would soon appear, even though she hoped some final misfortune would befall the Prince and forestall what would soon happen. But Fate was not with her; it had never been. Hearing footsteps, Kaileena peered around a curtain to see the Prince approach the massive hourglass. She waited for a moment, as he stood there, studying the hourglass and the rapidly decreasing sands in the top, before emerging to stand silently by him. So few grains left… so little time left.

"Time is running low. You ready?"

She was about to reply, when a sudden wave of dizziness struck her. She closed her eyes, feeling a strange sense of… otherness… pervade her. Her mind swirled in strange currents, but as quickly as it had come, the dizzy spell faded. Perhaps it was the Timeline, calling to her… it had a strange quality to it, associated with it and yet not the same…

She blinked, and followed him up the winding staircase to the throne room. "I've been thinking, Kaileena," the Prince said, slowly, hesitantly. "There is little for you on this island, and there will be less still once I've stood by your mistress."

He stopped, and she found herself next to him.

"Come with me to Babylon," the Prince said, simply, yet with a quiet sense of urgency. Something in his clear blue eyes looked at her, something so alien and… frightful… that her breath would no longer come to her. "You have a chance to begin a new life, free from the evil of this place!"

Free. Free of this place. For a moment, for one brief, shining moment, she could imagine herself standing by the prow of a ship, glancing back as the forlorn, dark Castle of Time receded into the distance. At first it was to have been her stalwart defense against fate, but it had gradually become her tomb as she had sunk further and further into her dark torment.

But that vision was swept away, just as all the others always were. And all she could see was blood.

"I am sorry, Prince," she whispered, casting her eyes away from his searching ones, "but I cannot take you up on your offer." She continued up the stairs, and walked alone into her throne room, while the Prince watched her.

* * *

He followed, as she knew he would. Must. All the threads had been sewn, all the actors were in place, and the time had finally come, as it had all been foretold.

And Kaileena had made her choice. A choice she should have made a long time ago. A choice that the Prince himself, of all people, had helped her make.

He looked around in confusion, at the giant, empty room. "Where is the Empress?" he asked, puzzled. "Where are the Sands?"

Instead of replying, Kaileena pressed a nearby lever down.

With a tremendous roar, a giant steel door descended to close the giant doorway, leaving the two of them alone in the voluminous throne room.

"What are you doing?!" yelled the Prince, incredulous. "You've trapped us in here!"

"I am sorry, Prince," she said, making her way to the giant throne and the two swords which lay there, "but one only one of us can cheat fate today."

Gently, she picked up both swords, feeling their heft, their well-worn hilts. She spun to face him, the blades flashing in the light.

His face was dumbstruck, his voice stunned. "You… are the Empress?"

"I told you to leave," she said coldly, angrily, walking toward him, "and yet you kept coming back. I began to wonder. If you can change your fate, perhaps I can change mine!"

* * *

"I had hoped the Dahaka would kill you. I had hoped Shadee would keep you from the island. Or the towers would finish you off. I even cursed the sword I gave you! And yet you did not die!"

Kaileena charged, but the Prince blocked her blows and kicked her away, sending her sliding away on the floor.

"Why have you done this?!" he demanded, shock still written on his face, as she rose to her feet.

"I've already told you! I have foreseen the future… to die at your hands. But like you, I've decided to change it!"

* * *

Kaileena gasped in surprise as the Prince suddenly… blurred… in front of her. And suddenly, it seemed like a thousand bees were stinging her. She tried desperately to block what blows she could, but for each one she managed to deflect, many, many more drank blood.

In anguished panic, she whispered a few words and levitated off the ground, trying to escape from the whirlwind of steel that the Prince had become. But still he was all around her, his blade moving impossibly fast to streak her body with bloody gashes.

And finally she fought her way free of him, into the clearer air above the floor. Gasping in pain, she quickly worked her magic to summon the first creatures she could grab from the nearby rooms, and then hurriedly set about trying to heal herself.

* * *

Kaileena's vision was marred by the blood that dripped like sweat from her brow. Through the painful, red haze, she could see the Prince's wavering image a few yards ahead of her, swords raised on guard.

She stood there, her weary arms barely able to lift her swords, trying to collect her energy for one last attempt. She had forgotten what it was like to not feel pain, so much had the wounds inflicted by the Prince pervaded her being. That was her entire existence, she could remember no other. Just the roaring humming in her ears, and the pain that coursed through her body like her blood.

Darkness began to tint the edges of her red-tinted vision. The black doom that she had tried to fight was clawing its way inside, settling into the well-worn paths that her dreams, her nightmares had carved out over the long millennia in preparation for this day, this hour, this moment, this eternity.

Through the dull roar in her ears, she heard, as if from a long distance away, the Prince say, a calm, cold pity in his voice, "I mean you no harm, Kaileena. But I must finish this."

The words were like fire to her, burning her inside. Screaming with hate, with anger, with defiance, at the Prince, at fate, at the world… everything!… she flew towards him, deadly blades arcing white-hot in the dark gloom.

Her arms rang; her teeth shook, as the Prince's blade, one he had picked up from her defeated minions, blocked the Empress' would-be deadly blow. And then the Empress' very own gift, the cursed sword she had given him in hopes that it would lead to his demise, returned to its Mistress with a bloody song.

Her momentum carried her past him, the cursed blade slicing her deeply and true. The roaring was suddenly gone from her ears, to be replaced by a cold silence, broken only by the stumbling sound of her wavering feet, the pitter patter of blood falling like rain to the stones below.

She stumbled on, fighting to stay up, but the pain was now her entire world, and the other one was starting to fade away, to blur into the distance like a dream. _Why had the Fates chosen him over me?!_ she cried in her burning mind, clutching herself and the pain exploding within her. _Who had chosen this end, and why? Why did he deserve it, and not I? For what black, cruel reason had this been decided?_

Shaking, she staggered around to face him, but he was not facing her. "You… are a fool… Prince!" she gasped to his back, her hoarse voice trembling. The feeling left her left arm, and the blade dropped from her numb fingers, to clatter noisily on the cold floor. "No matter what you do…" she coughed, blood splurting out, "…you shall fail!" She sank to her knees, her broken body failing her, but somehow managed to at least stay upright, using her remaining blade as a crutch. Unbidden, tears came to her… tears she had never wept before. "Just… as I… have tried," she whispered, each word an agony, as the Prince's back blurred before her eyes. "And just… as I… have… failed…" she murmured, falling into the darkness, into the dream, into the nightmare, into the terror…

From a long way away, from the farthest star in the eternal blackness of her fading universe, the Empress heard a faint whisper, words to accompany her into the nothingness…

"I am sorry, Kaileena."


	4. Chapter 4

…wave of dizziness struck her. She closed her eyes, feeling a strange sense of… otherness… pervade her. Her mind swirled in strange currents, but as quickly as it had come, the dizzy spell faded. Perhaps it was the timeline, calling to her… it had a strange quality to it, associated with it and yet not the same…

She turned to look at the Prince. He looked back at her, but there was something in his eyes… soemthing she hadn't seen before. But as quickly as she thought she'd noticed it, it was gone.

She shook it off. The deception had been hard for her, and she was just projecting her anxiety onto him.

She blinked, and followed him up the winding staircase to the throne room. "I've been thinking, Kaileena," the Prince said, slowly, hesitantly. "There is little for you on this island, and there will be less still once I've stood by your mistress."

He stopped, and she found herself next to him.

"Come with me to Babylon," the Prince said, simply, yet with a quiet sense of urgency. Something in his clear blue eyes looked at her, something so alien and… frightful… that her breath would no longer come to her. "You have a chance to begin a new life, free from the evil of this place!"

Free. Free of this place. For a moment, for one brief, shining moment, she could imagine herself standing by the prow of a ship, glancing back as the forlorn, dark Castle of Time receded into the distance. At first it was to have been her stalwart defense against fate, but it had gradually become her tomb as she had sunk further and further into her dark torment.

But that vision was swept away, just as all the others always were. And all she could see was blood.

"I am sorry, Prince," she whispered, casting her eyes away, "but I cannot take you up on your offer." She continued up the stairs, and walked alone into her throne room, while the Prince watched her.

He followed, as she knew he would. Must. All the threads had been sewn, all the actors were in place, and the time had finally come, as it had all been foretold.

And Kaileena had made her choice. A choice she should have made a long time ago. A choice that the Prince himself, of all people, had helped her make.

He entered the room… and walked straight toward the empty throne.

What? He did not seem at all confused or surprised! She hurried after him, as he approached the throne…

…and picked up her swords!

She stopped, shocked. So he had known, all along! She had thought him completely deceived, yet it had been she who had been played the fool!

He turned to face her. "It doesn't have to end this way!" he exclaimed, flinging the blades to the side. "Come with me… into the present. My present."

The terrible Empress, freed from the deception, sneered at the Prince. "So you can kill me in your own time, instead of mine?" She gestured with her hands, and her blades flew through the air towards her. Easily, deftly, she snatched them out of the air. "I am sorry, Prince, but only one of us can cheat fate today!"

He jumped onto her throne as she charged up the dais toward him. Pulling out his sword, he struck the wall hard, and it exploded in a cloud of dust, to reveal the secret passage to the portal.

Dumbstruck, she stopped. How had he known? Even Shahdee had not known about that!

He leapt through the opening, and Kaileena followed, swords flashing.

He deftly blocked her swing, then audaciously and unexpected moved even closer to her, grabbing her upper arms.

"Kaileena… Empress…" he pleaded, staring straight into her eyes. "Listen!"

He was trying to confuse her; he was too clever by half, she must not lose her resolve now! "No!" she screamed, trying to writhe out of his grasp. "You listen! The Timeline has said you will kill me, but I will change the Timeline!" Why was she wasting her breath justifying herself to him?! She was the Empress… she answered to no one, most of all not to him! She made to slash with her blades, but the Prince shoved her hard, sending her stumbling back into the half wall.

He was headed toward the portal! She chased after him, sweeping forward with her blades. She must end this now, and end the torment! It had taken her so long to build up her courage to face him directly… she could not throw her newfound willpower away! She had to stop him now, and thus forever be safe from her fate!

And then suddenly, he wasn't there! She felt a swift, hard pressure on her shoulder, and then suddenly felt his presence… behind her! But how?

Before she could even glance back, she felt him shove her forward, hard. Her eyes widened in shock, but it was too late… she fell into the misty clouds of the portal.

* * *

She collapsed on the stones near the portal, then looked around in sudden confusion. Everything was in ruins… she had been tricked into the Prince's time!

Her skin crawling, she glanced back at the glowing portal, expecting to see the Prince already there, ready to deal the final blow. But he was nowhere to be found. Perhaps the portal had granted her a few moments head start.

She had to escape, now! This world, this time, was not her own… her head echoed painfully from the strange currents in play here. Where could she go? Where? Re-entering the portal was not an option, not with the Prince potentially waiting for her on the other end. Nothing was familiar… the passageway she raced down that should have led to her throne room had collapsed, and another led off in an unexpected direction.

She hurried down the unfamiliar passageways, then stopped and cursed. Blind, crushing, debilitating panic had scattered her mind and sent her haring off. She should have ambushed the Prince as he emerged helpless from the portal!

Indecisive, she stopped, then started to go back. But she heard footsteps behind her, and her fragile resolve fled before them.

The terrors of a thousand years raced after her as she fled through the ruined corridors. But no matter how hard she tried, how fast she ran, she could not outrace those dark shadows nipping at her heels.

Exhausted now, she stopped in the middle of a large platform, open to the gray skies above. The panic within her had been drained by the sprint, to be replaced by anger. How quickly she had forgotten her resolve, her decision to confront the fate looming ahead of her. As she'd done her whole life, she'd attempted to hide, to hide behind the walls of the Castle, behind the traps and denizens that populated it.

_No more_, she raged at herself, trying to keep herself from trembling.

Controlled now, she watched icily as the Prince emerged from a shadowy hallway to leap onto the huge platform.

"I know what you've seen," he gasped, approaching her warily, "what you think you've seen in the Timeline."

_At least I winded him_, she thought grimly. "Then you know I have no choice!" she spat, raising her swords up. Why was she still trying to justify herself to him? Her anger rose, at herself this time. Thinking she had things under control, she had let her guard down, and become vulnerable.

"There is always a choice, Kaileena!" he said.

"Then I choose to live. And for you, to die!"

* * *

"Don't you see?! We can change our fate!"

"This isn't what happened the first time we fought."

She stopped at that. "The first time?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you! If you'd just let me explain!"

Something was not right… she had felt that ever since he had pushed her through the portal and into his world. But she could not read the Timeline here… everything was alien. She shook her head, casting those thoughts away. "No more words, Prince!" she snarled, angry at herself for letting him confuse her, distract her. "If you've only things to say and nothing to show then let us finish this!"

* * *

Kaileena looked down at the Prince as he dangled precariously from the edge of the tableau.

"Goodbye, my Prince," she said coldly, raising her blade up to cut his fingers off and send him plummeting into the waters far, far below. "I shall remember you always."

"No, wait!" he said. "Give me at least this last request… your ears one last time!"

She chuckled mirthlessly. "I am not a fool, Prince. Unlike you, I shall not rescue my nemesis from certain doom!"

She swung, the prospect of freedom at last driving her blade hard…

…into the stones, causing her arm to ring painfully at the unexpected resistance.

Off balance, she blinked, backing up slightly. He had somehow managed to let go, then find another handhold before gravity could claim him!

"Listen to me, please!" he yelled. "I do not want to kill you!"

"How very generous of you," she said sarcastically, "but I don't believe you are in much of a position to kill anyone, much less me, right now." Her swords flashed out again to lop off his hand.

And again, his hand somehow managed to move out of the way! _Impossible!_

"But even if you were being sincere, and truly wished me no ill-will," she continued, warily looking at him, probing for some weakness, "Fate and the Timeline would conspire to have you kill me."

"No, Kaileena… Fate is not that implacable a foe! You can change your fate!"

"At least we are in agreement there, my Prince," she replied, calling forth a whirlwind of burning sand and sending it scouring along the edge.

Trembling, she sank to her knees, the strain of maintaining the spell draining what little energy she had remaining to her. But she was so close to freedom… she had to be sure he was dead!

She clenched her teeth, closing her eyes tightly, trying to will herself to continue. _After centuries of waiting, what is one second more?_ she asked herself, trying to maintain focus.

But eventually she lost her hold, and the magic departed. Gasping, she opened her eyes, then was forced to blink and shield her eyes as the still-swirling sands blew back over her as they departed.

And when they were gone, so too were those pesky hands from the edge.

She blinked, in confused disbelief. Throughout the long centuries, the Timeline had never been wrong. Never. This wasn't supposed to be… she wasn't supposed to survive the Prince!

Scrambling on hands and knees, her blades clanging loudly over the stones, she approached the spot where last she'd seen the Prince, and peered over the edge.

There was nothing but the barren, steep wall of rock below her, leading down to the foaming, crashing waves far, far below.

It was impossible… but the eternal, fatalistic pessimist in her could no longer deny what her eyes saw. She had done it. Her millennia-old nightmare was over… and she had survived. The Timeline had been wrong.

A great burden, so much a part of her that she hadn't even recognized it was there, leapt from her heart, its heavy, cloying wings disappearing from around her, its suffocating blanket flung away. Tears flowed, miraculous water flowing from the desert. She shook as sobs wracked her, as the tears that had failed to come to her throughout all the centuries, all the dark, lonely nights, sprang forth at once.

Covering her mouth with her hands, the cold metal of the hilts of her swords pressing against her cheeks, she blinked through the tears, to look up at the blurry, distorted sun shining dimly through the gray clouds above. _Has it always been this beautiful?_

She closed her eyes again, and let the painful, beautiful tears run their course.

The sobs disappeared, her eyes dried, and she rose slowly to her feet. The breeze from the ocean flowed through her hair, fluttering her dress gently. She felt as if she was as light as a feather, that the next gentle gust might lift her off the ground, to float gently up into the clouds and into blue skies above them.

She looked down again, down to the crashing waves below, and found herself thinking about the Prince. He, too, had been fighting his fate. Mercilessly hunted by the Dahaka, he had made it all the way here, struggled through so much, only to have it end here.

"Farewell, My Prince," she said softly, to the gray water below. "I never did thank you for saving my life, so long ago now it seems. And I am truly sorry things had to end the way they did, but I had no other choice. If only you hadn't been so stubborn, and had heeded my words and fled when I'd warned you to…"

She gasped as she was suddenly grabbed from behind, a strong arm tackling her across her shoulders and yanking her backwards, away from the edge.

"A touching eulogy, Empress," said an all-too-familiar voice by her right ear, while she felt the cold edge of a sword whisper over her back, "but I'm not quite ready to use it. And you're quite welcome, by the way."

"Im… impossible!" she sputtered, barely able to get the words out of her numb mouth, as her mind reeled with the shock. The Prince was alive! But how? He had somehow managed to not only escape her sandstorm, but climb back undetected onto the tableau, and had caught her completely and utterly by surprise!

"Drop your swords!" he yelled, pressing closer to her, the tip of his sword pricking her back.

She closed her eyes, her heart tearing into pieces as black despair consumed it. For a moment, she truly had escaped her fate, lived and breathed in that other world, where she was truly free… and that crystalline freedom that had emerged and taken flight, so heartbreakingly exquisite, had now shattered into a million bitter shards, shredding her soul with their acidic touch.

"I said, drop your swords, Kaileena!" he said hoarsely, shaking her.

"I cannot, my Prince," she replied, tears now in her voice, if not in the flat, dead eyes that were once again open. "You know I cannot." She was dead; only her body was not yet aware of the fact.

"Damn it, Kaileena!" he yelled. "This is insanity! We both want the same thing… to stop the Sands from being created! We should be friends, not enemies!"

"Even if you don't want to kill me, you will," she said softly, regretfully. "The Timeline demands it." The Timeline was never wrong; she had been a fool to delude herself into thinking she had escaped it. She prepared herself to strike one last time, before the inevitable happened. Perhaps she could even catch the Prince by surprise, the logical part of her said, but her detached despair soon swamped that short-lived delirium of optimism. Her fists clenched about the hilts of her blades; perhaps a blind sweep backwards, though he would easily sense the intent in the bunching of her shoulders.

"But I have already succeeded, Kaileena! I have stopped you from dying in the past, and thus ensured that the Sands will not bedevil my life, that the Dahaka will no longer have reason to hunt me down. I have no reason, no desire to see you dead!"

"Then let me go, and leave this place forever," she replied quietly.

He laughed harshly, briefly. "If only it were that simple!" he said angrily. "But I cannot, for I cannot trust you, much though I wish it were otherwise! I thought that I could convince you to stop this madness, if only you would listen to me. But finally, I now see that I've been deluding myself. Your fear has complete mastery over you now, Kaileena. Your fear would lead you to attack me at the first opportunity you see, were I to let you go. And I would have no choice but to fight back, to stop you, to kill you! Can't you see that? Can't you see that you are on the brink of sealing your fate by your very own actions, just as I nearly did?"

There was a pause, then, as what little wind there was died down, and it seemed as if the very sounds of the world around them fell away.

"It appears there can only be one conclusion, then," Kaileena said softly. _Thank you for trying_, she added to herself, _but I was doomed long before you came into this world_.

"Yes," the Prince replied, his voice sad.

She tensed, wondering if she would be able to whip around and strike before the Prince's sword impaled her. She felt him tense at her movement, felt his sword press more firmly, she moved, trying to spin and writhe free even as his arm turned solid, as his sword bit…

…and suddenly she was flung out of his grasp and spilled onto the floor as the preternatural silence was broken by a great crashing as the earth around them shook violently.

Looking up, she saw him not too far, on his hands and knees on the stones, a stunned look on his face as he looked up, beyond her.

Despite herself, she found herself turning to track what his eyes saw, and gasped in shock as she saw the Dahaka standing in the midst of a cloud of dust, staring down at them from the vantage point of the walls around the tableau.

"It cannot be!" the Prince gasped behind her. "The Dahaka! But the Sands have not been created!"

In a blink, the floor shook again, eliciting a cry of pain from Kaileena as her bones cracked against the hard stones… and suddenly the Dahaka was standing on the stones of the tableau, roaring in triumph. But the dread creature, the Guardian of the Timeline, was not looking at the Prince… he was looking at her!

_I do not belong in this Timeline_, she thought to herself with horrible realization. Before she could even blink, black, whipping ribbons had shot forth from the terrible beast's chest, entangling her arms and legs and lifting her easily off the ground. She screamed as they burned like fire against her skin, and vainly tried to slice them off with her blades, but the sharp edges did nothing and the thing actually chortled at her efforts.

Kaileena's head was thrown back as everything suddenly blurred, and she screamed as the entire world blurred, and the ribbons pulled taught and she flew impossibly fast toward the yawning craw of the Dahaka…

…and suddenly there was a flash of white-hot blue in front of her eyes, and she crashed into the stones, the black ribbons falling to tatters around her. She looked up to see the Prince standing above her, wielding an impossibly glowing blade, as the Dahaka screamed in ghastly pain and anger.

"Flee, Kaileena!" he yelled, deftly severing a hard bunch of ribbons that tried to shoot around him to reach her. "You can do nothing here but die; my blade has the power to hurt him!"

Stunned, she stumbled backwards as the Prince waded deep into the black mist surrounding the giant Dahaka. What kind of a fool was he? The Dahaka had no quarrel with him, and could never be defeated! Had their positions been reversed, she would gladly have given him up to the Dahaka!

* * *

Her swords may be of no use, but she still had her magic. If she could call it forth; that last sandstorm she had sent against the Prince had spent her terribly.

But he was in trouble, that much was apparent.

Closing her eyes, she stretched out, concentrated, and called forth the magic. A giant fireball coalesced around her hands, and she hurled it at the Dahaka.

The Prince barely rolled underneath it, as it sizzled past him and struck the Dahaka full in the chest. With a roar of pain, it was flung backward from the resultant explosion, to slide across the stones and nearly off the edge. But it managed to dig its sharp claws into the stones and stop itself from plunging down into the water that was so deadly to it.

All this Kaileena saw from her knees, as the effort had felled her. As it was, she could barely keep herself from collapsing full onto the stones.

* * *

Kaileena saw a streak of blue arc in the dark mists around the Dahaka, followed by a great cry of pain from the beast as his big body shook. But then she heard the Prince cry out also, in anguish.

She had wanted the Prince dead for so long; for thousands of years longer than his mortal lifespan would eventually stretch. Yet without even thinking, she gestured with her hands, and healing life flowed into the Prince.

* * *

Kaileena watched in awed silence as the mighty Dahaka receded, pulled down beneath the waters of the sea.

A little ways off from her, the Prince fell to his knees, exhausted and weary from his titanic battle. He was suffering; only the sword that he now used as a trembling crutch stopped him from falling flat upon the floor.

Swallowing down the dryness in her mouth, she walked over to stand above him. He was so helpless now, his body covered in his own blood from numerous scrapes and cuts where the Dahaka's stinging ribbons had found purchase.

For thousands upon thousands of years, she had dreaded this Man, this Prince of Persia. He had haunted her dreams throughout the Ages of the World, tormented her for millennia. She had raised up a gigantic fortress to defend herself from him, and gathered a massive army of magical creatures to protect her from him. All for naught; the first he had penetrated easily enough, the second dispatched with ease despite their overwhelming numbers. She had sent him off on impossible tasks, cursed the very weapons in his hands, yet he had not succumbed. He had escaped the fearsome Dahaka time and time again, and had even done the unimaginable by finally killing off the dread Guardian of the Timeline.

Yet here he was now before her, helpless as a newborn. One small, swift stroke, and it would be all over. The dread that she had carried within her through the Ages would be vanquished, and she would finally be free. Her grip on the hilts of her blades tightened.

Sensing her above him, he gradually raised his head and looked up at her through the blood and sweat soaking his hair. If he was aware of his precarious position, he did not show it. Instead, he just stared into her eyes.

Somewhere, a door opened, letting light into the darkness that had clouded Kaileena's world. Warmth touched her cold heart, and she felt the sun shining on her face, the wind blowing through her hair, caressing the folds of her dress. She had spent the entirety of her existence fearing him, trying to kill him… and yet he had just risked life and limb to save her, when he easily could have, should have, watched in safety as she perished.

Tentatively, uncertainly, she ventured forth a small, thin smile.

He smiled, laughing a small, breathless laugh.

* * *

Slowly, the two made their way through the crumbled ruins of the Castle of Time. Progress was painfully slow, as both were wounded from their battles with the Dahaka. As if the weariness had drained all ability to speak from them, they journeyed quietly, silently helping the other clamber over blocks the size of houses, scale walls of dizzying heights and unfathomable depths, and traverse the narrowest of ledges over the deepest of pits.

They rounded a corner once, to stumble into the midst of a group of the castle's denizens.

"Stay behind me!" the Prince yelled, inserting himself between the slavering creatures and Kaileena.

"My Prince, there is no need," she said, a hint of amusement in her tone at his bravado, as she gestured with one hand. Immediately, the creatures stopped moving, to stare at her. "Do you forget that I am still their Empress?"

"Shahdee was yours, too," he reminded her.

"Shahdee was an… unusual case," Kaileena returned, walking around him to approach the creatures.

"Empress!" one said, reverential awe in its scaly voice.

"My poor creatures," the Empress said. "How many centuries now have you been guarding little but rubble? I fear I have done you a great disservice for all these years. Go now, to the rest that I have so selfishly and unjustly robbed you of."

And just like that, the creatures dissolved into sand, with soft, tired sighs.

"Where did these creatures come from?" the Prince asked.

"Do you really want to know?" she asked. "Or are you afraid it might change your… opinion of me?"

He swallowed, eyes hard. "Yes, tell me."

"The waters around the Island of Time are treacherous," she said, glancing in the general direction of the still-distant beach. "There has never been a shortage of bodies washed up onto the shores. Most were dead, but some…"

He blanched, and Kaileena could see the disgust flicker in his eyes. She recalled that he, too, had been washed ashore, along with the bodies of his shipmates.

She stared at him coolly, as he digested this information. "I cannot sweeten the truth, my Prince, much though you may wish it," she said. "I was never the innocent.

"But I will venture this much. I did many things on this island that are better left unsaid. I did what I had to, to try and cheat my fate. But I did not escape it, after all, though I stand here now before you. You truly did slay that Kaileena, my Prince… the one who lived in terror is dead and buried beneath this rubble now, as the Timeline has foretold. No matter what my fate is now, whether you strike me down now where I stand, or we capsize and I drown in the dark sea, I will accept it as a new person." She turned to look back at a precariously standing tower of the castle. "For now, I no longer know my own fate… and thus am I finally free."

THE END


End file.
